An electronic device can include an input surface to receive a force exerted on that surface by a user. A sensor coupled to the input surface is configured to generate a signal corresponding to a deformation of the input surface that results from the exerted force. The signal can be used by the electronic device to determine an operation to perform in response to the exerted force.
The performance of the sensor may be affected by the precision with which the deformation of the input surface can be detected. Accordingly, in many cases, the sensor includes a force-sensitive element in order to measure minute physical changes in the input surface as a result of the deformation caused by the exerted force. An output of the force-sensitive element is typically filtered and/or amplified prior to being processed by the sensor and correlated to the exerted force.
However, the power resources often required to amplify and/or filter the output of the strain-sensitive element may not be available to all electronic devices.